


a different kind of sound

by Rupzydaisy



Category: Larklight Trilogy - Philip Reeve
Genre: Gen, Not-so-nice-scientists, an origin story kinda, some Sophronia stealing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-16
Updated: 2013-07-16
Packaged: 2017-12-20 10:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/885944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rupzydaisy/pseuds/Rupzydaisy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ssillissa from the start. 'The blue alien from far, far away could only hear the melodious notes humming through every surface of the engine room as the Sophronia flew into the stars.' The music of the chemical wedding became her words.</p>
<p>Crosspost from FFN</p>
            </blockquote>





	a different kind of sound

She had hatched from an egg. Blue and shiny, a web of cracks split across the smooth surface.

And there had been a flurry of noise; low sounds which she didn't understand, filling the room around her.

" _Look she hatched, reptilian features but no scales."_  
"And the colour of its skin, blue. No, a her!"  
"Never seen anything like it before."  
"Nothing from this earth, I should know."

Eventually she grows up, understands the sounds they make. Words. Her tongue twists and shapes to mimic them. But she longs for a different sound.

They are surprised. They wonder what else she can learn. They give her a proper education. Lessons on literature, such pretty words, but not much relevance.

She doesn't know of the vast landscapes her books try to portray to her. It isn't applicable when she lives in one building, two floors, one corridor, one cell, four walls.

They teach her chemistry. She finds it as a different kind of tongue. Certain liquids make smoke; others change their colour when introduced to each other. Some explode violently while others fizz quietly, revelling in each other's company. She sees the similarities between her books and those chemicals. Still not the tongue and sounds her ears long for.

They sit her down, a room three floors below and two corridors across. They ask her questions.

" _Have you heard of a chemical wedding?"  
"What would happen if these chemicals were mixed together?"_

She answers, " _No,"_ and " _I don't know."_

They write her words in glossy black ink.

Then she asks them a question.  _"Can you show me?"_

They glance at each other. Both old scientists, probing the world they view, taking apart what they see to draw conclusions, gather up their findings. They agree to teach her more chemistry. Watching carefully for a new revelation, feeling on the brink of a scientific discovery which could make their names into the bold typeface on newspapers all the way to Jupiter.

She learns that people sail on ships in the aether with this engine. Using a chemical wedding people sail across the stars and space. But she doesn't care much for that.

Her eyes are bright when she manages to coax a low wavering note from an old engine.

The two old scientists share another significant glance. For they know the font in which their names will be published in.

They take her back to the other room, three floors below, two corridors across and ask her more questions.

" _How did you make the sound? The start of the chemical wedding?"  
"Has someone told you how to do that?"_

She answers them with,  _"I don't know,"_  and  _"No."_

Again they write her words down in glossy black ink. It dries on the paper slowly, sinking in and turning darker. Then they begin to talk to each other, forgetting that she occupies the room too. Forgetting that she knew words too.

" _Perhaps her race knows how to travel on the Shining Paths?"_  
"Perhaps they are more technologically advanced."  
"Innate talent from one who is so young."  
"Imagine if she were taught."  
"What if her kind are?"  
"The British will not be the only ones traversing the aether...what does this mean?"

They both looked to her and she looked back at them, for she didn't have an answer either.

They occasionally let her back into that room, watched her as she mixed chemicals, stirred solutions and heard the low hums of the engine starting up. These sounds were more. She knew they could sound so beautiful. Precious time spent pouring golden liquid in and hearing the tongue of a chemical wedding.

They brought visitors in to meet her. Alchemists with wary eyes which soon widened. She sat and listened to their words. Their words sound interesting. She read books about a man called Sir Isaac Newton and his theories. She shows them her workings out and ideas on scraps of paper scrawled over them, filling all the empty white space up.

Then it all stopped. She was left in her room for days. Four walls and so very quiet.

" _Not allowed out."_ They said in low, grumpy tones which belied their annoyance. They had argued with the new director but conceded. _"Dissection is another option, perhaps we will find out more in biological terms."_

Things seemed to change dramatically when her cell door was unlocked in the dead of night. The door swung open on its rusted hinges and she stepped forwards to see out into the dark corridor. She could hear locks being turned and doors being opened all along the corridor. "Come on. We need to leave now or they're going to cut us up." A crab with an outstretched claw motioned her forwards.

She followed quickly, picking up the skirts of her blue dress, because there was a warning laced in his words.

By the time she reached the steps of the Institute, there was a loud ruckus behind her with beings of all sorts making their escape. Outside –the real outside, with the open space and no walls- was filled with once locked up prisoners were revelling in their delight of being free.

She saw them all run down the cobbled street. It was quiet outside, but it was the lull of life. The city was sleeping.

The crab that had let her out stop to talk to a boy who held a key ring of keys that jangled. And things were turned into a flurry all of a sudden when a man with an angry face grabbed hold of the boy and shook him. There was fear in the crab's eyes and she spun around suddenly, her tail slashing through the air and knocking the angry man off his feet. Scraps of material floated to the ground.

Then she was being pulled along by the boy, and then there was a group of them running through the gas lit streets of London. Tentacles, claws, and arms pulling each other forwards and legs running as fast as they could.

They hid in a small shack while Jack; the boy, and Nipper; the crab, went in search of a ship. She found that there were two creatures with tentacles, she watched them converse with colours and noises.  _Not right, not quite._

Jack and Nipper hurry back with grins and a pair of men in tow who seemed surprised at the odd creatures hiding in the weathered shack. "We're stealing a ship!" Jack announces to them all. The Tentacle Twins turn blue and hum, tipping forwards in the direction of the new strangers. "An alchemist? Yes, we would need one. But these two have agreed to be engineers." Then he looks directly at her.

"What?" she asks.

"Your name, Sssil, isn't it?"

"Ssillissa," she corrects slowly.

"Ssillissa." He tries again and she smiles when he gets it right. "You know how to work a chemical wedding, don't you?"

He knows and she can't refuse. After all, they were all escaping together . "Yesssss."

They all crept through the streets of London in the dead of night, avoiding the police patrols who were searching for the band of prisoners who had escaped. Jack led the way, the two other men following behind, Nipper's black beady eyes watching over every street they passed.

"It's there." Jack pointed out as they reached the end of a dingy alleyway. The docks stretched out in front of them, tall imposing ships with sails that hung and swayed in the faint breeze. "Isn't she beautiful."

Ssillissa looked up at the old ship just to the left of them. It was of a dark wood, but had been weathered from flying through space. The wood was tinged with the Golden Lightpaths and seemed to hold some age to it, as though it had always looked like this. "Ssssshe's big."

"The engines in decent condition too." One of the engineers told her quietly. "We managed to salvage most of the chemicals, there should be enough...but I don't know, I've never seen one before." He smiled friendly and she nodded, excited to be able to be in a real engine room. The professors had only ever let her use the chemical domes.

"She's the  _Sophronia._ " Jack told them, because they could make out the faded golden lettering in the dark of the night.

They snuck up into the ship, climbing through a lower porthole and then sealing it back up. Jack immediately ran off up to the deck, the Tentacle Twins and the other members of the crew drifted off, assigning their own duties and responsibilities to themselves. Everyone fitted into a slot, as if the ship was just waiting for them. There would be learning to do, they would have to explore the ship, learn to love the ancient wood and the creaks and groans, but they now had a home.

Nipper walked with Ssillissa, showing her where the engine room was. The metal door swung open without a sound and she stepped through. "You might need these." He handed over a pair of leather and glass goggles and she pulled them over her blue spine so that they covered her eyes.

"Thank you Mr Nipper."

"You're welcome." He looked around once more and then stepped out, shutting the door after him. He knew that only the ship's alchemist should be present for a chemical wedding.

Ssillissa looked over the room through the grey tinted goggles. It was coated in a fine layer of dust, like it had been abandoned. There were vials, and jars and even some tubes in holders stacked on the floor and in shelves on the walls of the different colours of the rainbow and then every other colour in between. Small slivers of coloured light reflected through them from the dim electric bulb that hung over the engine room. To her, it seemed perfect.

A speaker crackled to life in the corner of the room, and she walked over to it, inspecting it closely before pushing a cracked green button. "Hello?"

"That's  _Hello Captain,"_ Jack's voice filtered through with a stream of crackles, "How's the engine?" His voice had turned a little tense.

Ssillissa walked around it, looking closely at the pipes and dial, "It doessn't sssseem to be broken. I think ssshe will work." There was a faint smile to her voice as she looked over it fondly. It was hers now. She never had owned anything before, and never something so important or big.

"Good, because we need to get out of here now." Jack said hastily. "They know the  _Sophronia's_ got visitors. Can you get us into the air?"

"Yesss. I will try." Ssillissa depressed the green button and walked towards the vials, picking up the base chemical and pouring down the funnel, down to the heart of the engine and as it slid down then metal and hit the bottom, a low note floated up.

"All hands on deck." Nipper's voice sounded through the ship's wooden floorboards.

Ssillissa continued, pouring liquids, measuring out chemicals and tipping them down the funnel. A glow began to shine through the engine room and through the pipes on the wall as the engine fed the ship for takeoff.

Jack whooped loudly down the speakers, "Brilliant. You're brilliant, Ssillissa!"

The low starting notes slowly weaved together, other lighter melodies fitting in, flitting back and forth. Then the ship groaned and creaked and they all felt it shudder up into the air. She didn't see those on the streets late at night turn and point up to the sky and she certainly didn't hear the cries and sharp sounds of the police whistles ring through the crisp London air.

The blue alien from far, far away could only hear the melodious note humming through every surface of the engine room as the  _Sophronia_ flew into the stars. She found didn't need words so much. Just the notes of the chemical wedding. The sounds that her ears had craved for ever since she could hear. They were her language now.


End file.
